iRobot and Google advance the next-generation smart home

Above: The iRobot RoombaÆ i7+ robot vacuum is ideally suited to enable intuitive and personalized smart home experiences based on an ability to learn a homeís floor plan. Using the Google Assistant, users can direct the robot to clean a specific room with a simple voice command, like ëHey Google, clean the kitchení.Lifestyle | 30 Nov | Home & Design

iRobot Corp., the leader in consumer robots, has announced a collaboration with Google to integrate robotic and smart home technologies that will advance the next-generation smart home.

Consumer robots like the iRobot Roomba® i7+ robot vacuum are ideally suited to enable intuitive and personalized smart home experiences based on an ability to learn a home’s floor plan. With Imprint™ Smart Mapping, the Roomba i7+ remembers multiple floor plans and room names so users can customize cleaning jobs. Using the Google Assistant, users can also direct the robot to clean a specific room with a simple voice command, like ‘Hey Google, clean the kitchen’.

Working together, iRobot and Google will seek additional ways to integrate their platforms, providing customers with the choice to opt in to new innovative smart home experiences that leverage a broader understanding of the home’s space. For example, the spatial awareness of the home that Roomba maintains may help to simplify smart home setup and enable powerful new automations.

“iRobot is delivering products that help people keep a cleaner and smarter home,” said Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot. “Robots with mapping and spatial awareness capabilities will play an important role in allowing other smart devices in the home to more seamlessly work together. We’re looking forward to working with Google to explore new ways to enable a more thoughtful home.”

“Over the past year, we’ve been working hard to make it easier to control all the devices and appliances in your home with the Google Assistant with just your voice,” said Michele Turner, director, Smart Home Ecosystem, Google. “We’re excited to be exploring with iRobot how its unique spatial awareness technology can work with the Assistant to offer customers a more intuitive and personalized experience in their homes.”